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C.O.W. - #007: Creature feeding on lava - VOTING!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------davi:
concept: The regurgitator, an ancient beast who churns the volanco's lava by swallowing and revomitting it back up. This process allows the lava to never settle and harden. The volanco is used by the gods to fordge their weapons for epic battles against evil.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Xpose:
concept: The Mythical bird thought to be the creator of Islands. Feeding on the lava of volcanoes and dumps it's wastes into the ocean which becomes Islands. You better watch yourself because if this bird shits on your car, you could be in some trouble. So don't shake your fists at this god, he'll throw something back.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Fozzybar:
concept: Glowing Hump-Cracker
This creature lives in a very hostile environment...a deserted island somewhere in the south pacific...there is nothing to eat or drink, only hot, bubbling lava under the ground. No one knows how this creatures can survive only by eating lava??? Also it's a mystery why the lava doesn't harm its body, when consumed...
Scientists assume that they went through some incredibly mutations during evolution to adapt to this hostile circumstances...There is no way to enter the island, neither by water nor by air...the ground is too thin to land with an helicopter or airplane, they would break into the lava...the sea is too wild to navigate without crashing on the cliffs...
So the only way to analyze the living of this strange creatures is to watch movies, filmed from the air...so scientists assume that the creature uses its claws to dig or break in holes in the thin ground to gain access to their meal. Their lower arms are covered with or even made up of a rock-like material.
Some of this creatures have humps on their necks, which can be filled with lava, so they can glow in the dark...scientists believe that only males have this special anatomy and they think the glowing humps are used to impress females just like birds do with their colorful plumage...
Also a remarkable appearance are that this creature have some sort of webs between the toes...this would indigate that this creatures even is able to run on the lava surface without getting hurt...once a crew filmed a specimen running for a short period over a lava stream, but they couldn't believe this until some detailed shots with a telecam showed the webs on the feet...
This image is an illustration and was drawn by an artist based on the movies...
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Uziel:
concept: In a world of ashes, fire and rivers of boiling lava lives the Lava-ant.
This creature gets its energy from eating liquid lava.
When threatened It defends itself by shooting hot magma out of its rectum.
They built their nest close to lava streams because they need the heat of boiling lava for their brood to grow.
The colony of ants follow every command of their queen mo'm without question.
The queen regent is a fat bitch, complaining constantly about food and offspring.
Fun Fact: If you want a life size statue of this creature just put a real lava-ant in some cold water and tataaa...you'll have a kick-ass souvenir. (if you can catch one without getting burned)
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------coondoggle:
concept: Sucking on the head of volcanoes Magmitites live off of noxious gases. They balloon up when full and float around their firey planet mating in the sky. Occasionally a volcano errupts in their mouths. That's a spicey volcano!
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Dougbot:
concept: The Kotaki Crab of the Taptara lava fields mainly feeds on lava tube words, sulphur and other small critters. It does however pull some nutrients from the lava it holds within it's body. The lava is primarily a defense against others predators. It can shoot lava almost 50 meters through it's front 'cannon'. Not to mention most animals don't care for steaming lava pouring down their throats after biting into the crab.
The crab is quite slow, and uses it's powerful front appendages to break down mineral towers that form near hot springs. While it does have predators, they are few and far between. The kotaki crab is fairly harmless to humans, except when protecting it's nest and young.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------bRØk3n_sPiRiT:
concept: Fire Lizard
These lizards have a unique way of warding off predators: their body temperatures rise so much that their skin is hundres of degrees high, being calcinating to the touch. They manage to rise their skin to such a temperature by eating scorching lava. They feed on microorganisms that actually live in the lava called archaeobacteria. Once ingested, the lava micro-nutrients are filtered and the lava helps keep their skin temperature high enough to defend against agressors.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Helzon:
concept: Helingen
The role of the Helingen pronounced (HELL-IN-JEN) in islander life was manifold as was discovered and written extensively by traveling missionaries in the eighteenth century. It was held as the most revered god in their vast pantheon. First and foremost, it was seen as the god of all fertility and life upon the planet, but also as the god of wealth and luck. The Helingen imagery could be found ubiquitously in nearly all the island cultures, from combs that decorated hair,small carvings that were worshipped within homes, to larger life sized versions for public display.
Only after many years and subsequent analysis of documents has a clearer understanding of what crucial role the Helingen played in the early formings of a more mature ecosystem.
These creatures belied their rather odd and rather brutish looks with extreme gentleness. They simply had little or no natural sense of aggression. (The leading theory was that they reproduced asexually. The male would release a packet of "sperm" through his cooling vents, a female eggs..and high aloft within the clouds fertilization occurred. In several weeks the juvenile Helingen would fall with the rains on the leeward sides of the islands and thus begin their terrestrial lives.) Feeding on the freshest lava that spewed from the summits of the highest domes and within the deepest calderas of active island volcanoes, these creatures seemed impervious to the blistering and hellish heat. It seemed also that they possessed a blood composition of liquefied Hydrogen. The molten rock and metal they consumed was ingested then lifted by capillary action through great "pipes" that protruded from the durable hide where reaching the top of each was sufficiently cooled then fell back toward the center where the "digestive" system broke down and extracted vital nourishment in the form of dissolved metals and minerals. There was however, a substance that the Helingen was most intolerant to and which proved its wiping from existence...and that was gold. Their systems simply rejected it and was therefore deposited in vast quantities within their dung. Beurgoning colonial powers of the time learned from their missionaries of this extraordinary feat and soon without much forethought Helingen were rounded up to the last and shipped back to mainlands..where without their lava to consume could do little and quickly perished.
The Helingen's ability to eject vaporized water and other small trace elements from their cooling projections were thought to have seeded the first clouds hundreds of millions of years ago and thus ushered in the more modern atmosphere.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------leckronium:
concept: Mythical Lava Beast
This mythical creature is believed to be related to the volcano gods in ancient times. Going by names of Lavadile, Magmagator, or Magmacroc, stories describe these creatures as being a rare site and a prediction to devastating eruptions. The ancient people believed that if you were lucky enough to take one of these creatures into view and live to tell about it then you were a chosen one who the volcano gods favored. Other stories reveal that these creatures were fire-breathing guardians and that sight of one meant you were intruding into that gods space and would soon be punished. Most stories reveal however, that these creatures were only seen near active volcanoes and that they needed to feed on lava to survive. If it strayed to far from its lava source it would cool and turn into volcanic rock which returned it to hibernation until the next releasing lava flow.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------xia:
concept: Balialbub RusputinaChikigawaraZhexigogounaDougletAdaWilliams 'sNumuroUno
Reside: Hell Kitchen
Favorite Vacation Spot: Underneat Yellow Stone (considered to be super valcano area fill with yummy lava and variation of gas)
Description: Balialbub is the head chef in hell. His recipes are quite delicious to him, as they all involve piping hot lava. He loves eating lava. In fact all the demons love his cooking; they of course all love to eat lava though. To those sent to hell, his meals are awful. Each lost soul gulping down lava every breakfast, lunch and dinner burns at first, but after a few millennia those souls just want some salt and pepper to flavor the bland lava. At times the lava cools in the souls gut, making it very hard to do the 300 jumping jacks required every morning in hell. Not to mention the quarter sized kidney stones produced by eating lava.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Matt Dixon:
concept: The 200ft long Sulphura Titan feeds by trawling the crust of the lava fields that it inhabits with it's long prehensile arms where it gathers microscopic lifeforms that live on the surface. These arms also contain ducts which allow the creature to breathe in volcanic gases, which are stored in a vast 'lung' and allow the creature to float safely above the burning magma. These giant beasts drift silently amongst the thermals produced by the lava, steering with the aid of their dorsal 'sail' and their arms, which are used as rudders in the molten rock below.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------GomenNasai:
concept: the silver butterfly
Its internal chemistry is tailored for living in a high temperature environment : it's body is a crystalline alloy of titanium and carbon, and its blood is based on silver. Its 'wings' are in fact the only way it has to stabilise its temperature. Using the permanents air currents in its environment, it sends its blood to cool as far as possible from the lava. It always have to modulate it's wings length to avoid a solidification of its blood (it harden under 300°C). It feeds on metallic gases that it absorbs with it's trump. Its feet allow him to keep the least body surface in direct contact with the lava
If the lava is cooled down quickly enough under a silver butterfly, it'll freeze instantly, and if cooled down enough, its wings can be harvested for silver (the locals use silver butterflies wings as a ritual jewelry)
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Gloklund:
concept: Magmahounds of the Ashen Plains
The Magmahounds scavange the barren Ashen Plains of the planet Noenazdak for fresh molten lavapools in which to fill their bellies. Tasty!
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------lukavi:
concept: The Ith or 'Cold Fish,' as they are fondly called by the English-speaking settlers of the planet Kazlam, are best described as walking popsicles. Their abnormal hypothalamus keeps their body temperature on a perpetually frigid base of -273 degrees Celsius. The Ith can literally freeze themselves to death, as proven by the numerous ice-cold corpses scattered all over Kazlam. That is probably why these docile creatures are often spotted wading in the lava lakes that crown this fiery planet. They submerge their subzero bodies in the hot goo enough to raise their temperature to a livable degree. Lava is ingested not only as a more efficient way of distributing heat to their body, but also for food. They have mouth filters similar to that of a whale which allows it to sift through the molten soup, collecting yummy cosmic algae in the process.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------redehlert:
concept: The Helminth Devouring Element, also known as the Lava Leech, is a parasitic inhabitant of active volcanic bellies. The Helminth requires the nutrients in the lava to survive, wrapping around lumps of blistering liquid without any harm unto itself, thereby squeezing and sucking the molten life force from the lava until it cools. After that, it moves on to the next region of active lava. The Lava Leech can reach sizes up to 20 meters as recorded during excavations of several dead volcanos. Apparently, this parasite dies if its host dies.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Genital_Eclipse:
concept: The Emere lives on the lava tundra outskirts of XanTipple. Where it can be found suckling up the red-blistering lava through it's four outstretched tentacles. The Emere cycles the lava through it's digestion system producing steam which powers it's heart and locomotion.
Emere's have a very tight knit supportive social community. It's very common to see other Emere's on high ground connecting to the exhaust pipes of lower emere's for feeding purposes. This web-like connectivity can keep thousands of Emere's living off of a single Emere who has found an opening to the lava on the bottom floor.
On a side note, Emere's have absolutely no nipples of any sort, leading to harassment from various other nipple-sporting lava creatures.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------stormeffex:
concept: This is the Lava Larvae. It is a large red dragon larvae that spends its juvenile years basking in the heat in volcanoes and eating the lava to maintain its hue. the lava larvae is at home in the lava and can swim under it as easily as it can in water. After a hundred years or so, when the larvae reaches adolescence it causes an eruption in the volcano, emptying the lava into the ocean where it will migrate inland to begin it's cacoon stage where it will emerge into a fearsome red dragon after a period of 7 years.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------JoBeSu:
concept: The Chimney-hat lives in volcano areas and loves it!.They feed on lava but their digestion system only takes up the metals in the lava..that gives them a metalic skin witch make them resistant to the extreme heat.Its a pretty lazy creature and not verry agressive since they are the only creatures living in these areas.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------fungi:
concept: Magma Wyrm
The Magma Wyrm was once thought to have been a god of some sort, when it reared out of its volcanic home worshippers would gather around the smouldering pit and throw themselves in as sacrifice. little did they know that these creatures were quite common, they live way beneath the earths surface in lava chambers gorging themselves on the molton rock. they only appear at the earths surface by chance or when there is an eruption. although only a dozen have been reported seen in the whole of human history scientists are well aware of theyre presence. the last magma wyrm spotted rearing out of a volcano was recorded to have reached over 60 feet into the air, the average size of a magma wyrm is over 200 feet long according to scientists.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------prostate sunrise:
concept: the Giant Douggle is virtually immune to heat of any temperture. Making it ideally suited to living on the volcanic islands which it is found. Lacking a common food supply the Douggle will often eat raw molten lava. The extreme heat doesnt harm the Dougglet, but lava will harden around the areas which the it touches lava the most. Making gaunlets on its forearms, and a extruded jaw. What it gains from eating lava is anybody's guess.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Red Rook:
concept: Having evolved past its fellow 8 legged species, the Yellow crested fire octopus has adapted to a very unique high temperature environment along tectonic plates, feeding off hot underwater springs and volcanic eruptions.
The lava it consumes is excreted as the plates along its back, the further away they get from the body the harder and more britel they become eventually breaking off. The very light allows it to keep its balance relativly easily, with the help of the hot water and gasses it consumes. It uses its long snough like projection, that is a very specialised hollow tongue to dig and root around in hot spots trying to get near more lava that it can consume to sustain its high body heat and mineral intake.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------BlkCelebration:
concept: cuervo de magma
It emerges from active volcanos filling its body with lava and slowly digesting it over a period of seven days (this one seems to be gargling lava).
It possesses no limbs, so it relies on a seal-like method of locomotion.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Stokes:
concept: Gerald Mortonavich is the only known creature that survives completely off of lava consumption. He just loves the stuff.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------Jull:
concept: Smoker sea slug lives near volcanic zones where undersea eruptions occurs very often. The smoker sucks the recent lava, in search of minerals and bacteria attracted by the heat of the lava.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------0kelvin:
concept: The Hairless Alpine Gibbon lives in cold volcanic alpine regions. Unlike most other creatures who adapted to their cold environments by growing a thick coat of fur, the Hairless Gibbon keeps warm by finding fissures and steam vents which he reaches deep into with his long arms and fishes out red-hot volcanic rocks. It then stores the rocks in a pouch inside of its cheek to keep itself from freezing to death. They are generally shy creatures, although people have spotted them sneaking around alpine villages. These sightings are usually followed by numerous reports of missing oven mitts.
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I voted for davi because the idea for his concept is great, I loved the description, and the creature is actually shown regurgitating lava.
Only crit is that some parts could be a little less sketchy and more defined.

My vote goes forDougbot:
You really invested intense thought into the concept for a creature that lives in a lava environment (crustacean, lava shooting)...which i have to admit i didn't for mine (at least not intense like you did) ...additionally your execution is superb as always...also you supported the community with your tutorial, which is not an argument for voting for you, but it shows that you care

Other entries:

Helzon:
I think you have nice ideas and your line-work is great, but your coloring is mostly killing your entries (your b/w bird for the "venomous-bird"-round showed this - it was by far your best entry in my eyes)...try not to use too much different colors, maybe go for monochrome schemes at first and then add some slightly different colors to define the focus areas...

leckronium:
No platypus this time??? Really this was one of my favs for this round! I loved the composition, the look of the lava, it really glows and looks damn hot! My crit is that your concept is not as strong as Dougbots. The creature design is not that innovative (dragon) also...

lukavi:
I love the creature design, very fresh and unique...also your colors are distinct and characteristical for your images! Crit is that your background still has too much different colors and tones, so that the viewer is confused by all the distracting little areas surrounding the character...

Genital Eclipse:
This one was also one of my favs...i nearly voted for you, but somehow the metallic, mechanical look bothered me, since it's a creature-activity...but your concept is maybe the best and most creative one in this round!!!

fungi:
REALLY awesome rendering...i love it!!!

prostate_sunrise
Yeah, i would like to see our lava-creatures fighting, hehe...they have some similarities i think, which makes the imagination of a fight even more interesting...lovely rendering and nice handling of the colors...

BlkCelebration:
My vote for best illusion of hot matter goes to your entry...bummer that your design is not as good as your rendering...

Red Rook: seemed most believable overall and nicely rendered.
(Dougbot: not sure I can completely buy into the concept . . . front legs don't appear bendable, can it feed itself, or does it require a stoker? Beautifully painted, though!)

This was like trying to pick which kid you want to keep...
Far and away this was a hellish week to try and decide.....

First, to each of you...you know that I respect each and every one of you that submitted, takes huevos to put your work out there for judgment and for that you get my praise...

Were some pieces stronger than others?...Yes, of course, and that will be a factor in why you will vote for the person you vote for. Still though I applaud the incredible effort and thought that went into these..

Fungi : This work is incredible...it could easily be a) a cover of a fantasy/sci-fi mag..b) an ultra rare CCG image...or c) a submission for Spectrum..
tremendous...

davi : enjoyed very much the concept and succinct description...however...what held me back though was the lack of definitive deliniation in the creature's anatomy and lack of varying texture on the skin and spine...One other thing that may have thrown me as well were the "vent tubes"...or "wingless wings"?? They got cut off before being able to see their true function..and weren't referenced to in your description...

xia : Truly amazed with the soft painterly look you gave your piece...the doug adams reference in the name is priceless...but my thought was that this creature has every feature but the kitchen sink...wings, multiple claws, multiple legs, dreads, underbite from hell..etc...funny as all get out..but..

xpose, uziel, broken_spirit : maybe what I was hoping for in each of your pieces was a drifting away from normal terrestrial life..and something a bit more pushing the envelope...in terms of anatomical design...Im not trying to sound parochial...but don't be afraid to play around with the anatomy...even if it is an ant or lizard, or bird....I guess the boiled down idea is "dont be afraid to screw em up!"

Man, what a week! Everyone made some great posts and really put in the effort there, and this part is great, where we can comment on the entries and exchange ideas. I can't stress enough how much fun I had participating so far. I feel like I have learned a lot from taking part in this activity, and the learning hasn't stopped.

Helzon: Hey thanks man, I totally get what you're saying with "dont be afraid to screw them up", our teacher here told us the same thing once and it really stuck with me. I think its by far the best advice I have ever gotten. I see what you mean by trying to make the creatures less terrestrial in esthetic and anatomy and more "out there", I will definatly be experimenting more.

lekronium: When I started doing this image I wasn't really sure what I was doing or how to achieve what I wanted. I had a really vauge idea and I just started out with the composition. I feel like I really neglected the perspective, anatomy and the lighting because I was more focused on the composition than anything else. This caused problems with the perspective later because I did not establish a horizon level, and there were no clear vanishing points either. I had started with the figure and then added the perspective and tried to adapt it and ajust it to how I had planted the creature and not the other way around (big mistake). Since the vanishing points are not really clear, I didnt draw perspective lines for the ground either and just scrambeled some patches of dirt there rather intuitivly, which did not really work out either. Looking at it you just get the feeling that some is "off".
You are right about the lighting too, I felt I was really struggling with that, no defined light source (the lava over there maybe) so rendering the different planes I really didnt know how to go about it. Plus in the ink version before coloring I added so much ink scribble that you couldn't really tell if there were actually areas in the light, midtone and shadow.
About the colors, the main problem I had to deal with was the fact that since the lighting was not well established I didnt know how to establish the colors. I wanted to use white for the strong highlights, yellow for the light areas, orange-red for the mid tones and then red and red-bluish for the shadows, with red as a base. I can see its not working but I thought that was because of the lack of tonal definition, rather than the color choices themselves, so I dont really understand this part of the crit. If you can spare the time please tell me a bit more about the colors and what could have worked better maybe. If its because the yellows are sort of greenish that was actually an accident! I wasnt thinking when I was painting it I guess. I definatly didnt want to produce vibration between the yellow-greens and the red base.
I know there are many subjects I really need to be studying more, and doing these activities has made me more aware of the things I am lacking in study and practice. I feel compelled to go out and learn more, put in the effort. I'e been doing many of the excercises in the loomis books and I realize that subjects like perspective, lighting, anatomy, are fundamentally important and need hours and hours of constant dedication and practice. That is why I disagree with you when you state that its the small details that really count, because these are not small details at all. If anything, subjects like lighting, anatomy, perspective are so important topics that neglecting their study is career suicide. They are, after all, so full of contents we will probably continue to study them through out our entire lives.
Oh yeah, cool thing you liked the compostion!

Glokund: I see what you mean, making a tonal plane in black white and greys sounds like a great idea. I will keep this in mind and try to work on this principle from now on, at least until I know more about tones and tonal composition. You're right, I did not really know what I was trying, or wanting, to achieve. I actually did look for lava reference and tried to work with the images I had but none of them looked like the lava I was hoping for and painting lava was actually quite difficult and tricky. I definatly did not know what I was doing. The lava I wanted to paint based on the images, I wasn't getting good results or anything that even resembled the images I had. Also, the light from the lava I had intented to portray that too, but I just lacked the knowledge and the skill to know how.

Overall, this week was great. Helzon, lekronium, Glokund, you guys, thank you so much for taking the time to crit, its been very very helpful, I will keep all this in mind and think more about it. COW has been a great learning experience particularly in the sense that I feel I have become really more aware of the areas I need to focus more study on. Great work everyone.

Ok I've already said it and I'll say it again this week has been great, congrats to everyone who participated posting and commenting!

bRok3n_sPiRiT
I didn't by any means try to imply that lighting, anatomy, and perspective wasn't important. You are exactly right. I think in this thread though the most important subject is concept. After that, lighting, anatomy, and perspective help define what your concept is. It does take a lot of practice and the more you practice it the more it feels secondary because it will come so natural to your images. If you are overwhelmed right now by all the different subjects that go into a picture, try focusing on a certain one. Because this thread deals mostly with concepts try focusing on your concept and the anatomy of your creature. Your anatomy looked pretty good so maybe now focus on getting your lighting down to help convey your idea. If you can get your message across without a background then don't worry about it now. Fozzy stated in the new thread that most of the winners so far don't even have backgrounds. Good Luck and I hope this has helped you some. I expect to see good results this week!

Doughbot - the creature is great, great design and very well executed. i could totally see one of these creatures slowly straddling along eating on lava. the description was also very well done.

Matt Dixon - wonderfull creature! i chose this one because its a flying creature, and i liked the idea of the hot gases that are kept in his large lung which keeps it a float over the lava as it feeds. it is also very well drawn and rendered. i also could visualize these creatures slowly floating over vast lava pits. the description was detailed and explained the creature very well.

fungi - the look of the creature is very awesome! i really stayed and looked at this creature for a long time. its very well designed and the whole image is just amazing. the description fits the creature nicely. i chose this one as top 3 because this creature is a worm like creature who actually spends most of its time in the lava

My top 1 creature;

this was hard to pick because i love all 3 of them. one being a land creature, one being a flying/floating creature, and one being a um..creature that lives in the lava... so hard to choose

but i will have to go with doughbot the design of the creature was really great, coupled with a great name and description you hit all points! good job...you bastard!

Thoughts: Phase 2

Here I am with some more comments. Still won't be done, but getting close.Broken Spirit
Your pose is dynamic and shows a desire to put the viewer into the space. Looks as though you put some good time into discovering the fire lizards contours and textures. I see the beginnings of pushing things into space by dropping out detail in the right foreleg and left back leg, but if you could do this for the hind region and the tail, it would be much more spatial and pull things together. The bg also flattens the picture plain - push these back by decreasing color saturation a bit. Last thing: lava looks a bit like spaghetti in sauce.

Helzon
Cool ass creature - got a lot of depth and form and with Dougbot's assist, it's been nicely realized spatially and in color. If you apply what the revision did for your work in your future projects, we may be looking at a new COW winner. Concept copy was well thought out as well.

Leckronium
Awesome lava interpretation...I'm really feeling the heat! The creature looks credible. The only thought is to think more rock-like. The top mantle looks jaggy and organic (more rock like), but the appendages have this equidistant thing going on to show off the lava beneath the hard exterior. Rough this up and make it less consistent and you'll have it. Push the color a bit more back by the tail if you want to really show off the full shape. I'm liking your lighting as well.

Xia
Concept copy was a riot to read…did you sneak Dougbot's name in there, or is that just my imagination? So...the question is, what does this chef cook with? The arms look so tiny to me, so I'm just not seeing how he'd cook with that massive chest in the way. Based on your copy, I see another creature, but that's the fun thing about imaginations. Good depth and use of space. I think that having the lighting come from the boiling lava would give a more daunting and majestic appearance to your creature.

Oregano
The way you incorporated the concept copy into the figure is sweet. Wish there would have been more of a screen effect applied to the creature picture frame so I would have felt like someone watching it from a nearby tank or something. Even having a smaller screen to the side with a thermal reading would have been interesting too. A little more time tightening the creature up is my only added crit. BTW, nice fire treatment.

Matt Dixon
Damn nice piece, Matt. Completely real in my head and your environment treatment is so on it makes me ill. The lava spittle and smokey reds/oranges cooling to the magentas and purples is rich. The head loses it for me. Does there even need to be a head? Does it fart? BTW, you were one of my top choices as well.

Gomen Nasai
A most unique creature with some pleasing design elements. If you don't mind, I'd like to suggest losing the legs and generating a version that has it in perpetual flight. This would help cool the blood as well. Also, the bg is a bit too sketchy and overwhelming and competes with the creative qualities of your creature. Excellent concept copy. Rather than white hilites, go for the yellow-orange of the lava.

Gloklund
I wouldn't wish these creatures on my worst enemy...look fierce. An intersting pig-like creature…I know, you say 'hound' but I see 'boar'. Lava pools look nicely handled too. Concept copy could be fleshed out more.

Lukavi
A fun creature with a great name! I'd enjoy seeing the heat turned up a bit more in your piece to really give a sense of relief from the body's themoregulatory malfunction. I almost want to see if you can pull a color redo by using's Dougbot's redo of Helzon's entry.

redehlert
Now don't get me wrong...it's a neat idea and all, but your execution wasn't all that. I know, I'm talking to myself, but I'm my own worst critique, so bear with me. Now you see that the lava lump comes across as the creature and not the damn black encircling beasty. Damn your eyes! In future COWs, spend a bit more time with the concept development working out bugs and lighten up a bit more. Time to let the biomedical bg you have to seep into your work more. It's an experience and I'm proud of you for giving it a go. If I hadn't voted for someone already, I'd give you a sympathy ass pat. Apply more attention to form and lighting.

That's it for now....more to come.
Cheers!
Dave

There is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "i" in meat pie. Meat is the anagram of team...~Shaun "Shaun of the Dead"http://www.cognitionstudio.com